Powering On Your PS4 (For Dummies)

You know the drill: You get home, you tear open the box, and you (carefully) yank your newly purchased console out. Then you plug everything on, press the power button, and step back in amazement. Success! That's what we were hoping for, too. As it turned out, the PS4's power button might be a little too sleek for its own good. Read on for some expert power-button advice, as well as a slew of excuses.

Look at the PS4. Don't touch it, though. It is a fingerprint magnet. How do you power this thing on? Plugging the controller in and pressing the PlayStation button doesn't do anything. There's no rocker switch in the back. Think, man, think!

OK, let's get a little closer. Before we proceed, I should tell you that I spoke with several other people who had the same problem powering on the console for the first time. Also, I should tell you that I was on the couch offering absolutely no help to Mike Futter as he became increasingly more agitated. (It was kind of entertaining.)

You might be asking, "Why didn't you look in the manual, you doofuses?!" I don't have a good answer for you, other than the fact that the couch was about 15 feet away from the PS4 box and my arms aren't that long. At this point, Mike was blindly pointing at every square inch of the PlayStation 4's exterior. If you have questions about how to best get your fingerprints on the PS4, he is the undisputed authority on the matter.

Here they are! These tiny little recessed nonbutton things are totally buttons! Sure, they have tiny power and eject icons on them if you look close enough, but who's going to do that? After you go through the setup, you can power on the console with your controller, and you'll never have to touch the console again.

If we saved one person 15 seconds, then this was all worth it. I know that I felt like a hero sitting on the couch, and I feel equally heroic throwing Mike under the bus. Let's pretend I never named him. We'll all agree to say that I referred to him as Unnamed Work Colleague. Sounds like a plan.